Stories from a real life cowpuncher that will give you a smile and a glimpse of God.

The Times They Are A Changin’

by Jake Hershey on January 13, 2013

I recently watched a news story on TV about robots and technology. To say the least, this is a subject that I know very little about. And I like it that way. If not for my wife, I wouldn’t have an iphone. If not for a very convincing cowboy preacher friend of mine, I wouldn’t know the first thing about facebook. But after watching that news story I have to admit-the times they are a changin’. There are currently robots that can and do perform just about anything you can think of. Things like driving cars ( you can try this here), cleaning houses, cooking meals, disarming bombs, factory type jobs, performing surgery, filling prescriptions for medicine, etc.

Heck, I go to town about once a week and even I’m affected by robots. I’ve got a leather shop at my house. There are certain things that I build that are also built by robots in China. Uneducated city folks wonder why a product built by hand from me costs more than a similar product built by a robot in China. So as much as I dislike technology I must admit….ignorance isn’t always bliss. The times they are a changin’. Many things will never be the same. Mankind has come to rely so much on technology, machinery and robots that soon enough, most folks won’t even know how to do certain things like reading a map, or handwriting a letter to a friend. There’s even concern that someday machines might become “self aware” and start doing what they want, instead of what they’re programmed to do. Upon hearing that little fact I put a shotgun next to my fridge….just in case it decides not to let me have a beer.

But there are some things that a robot will have a tough time doin’. Show me a robot that can ride through a herd of cattle, spot a sick calf, cut it out, rope it, doctor it and turn it loose….in the most efficient and stress free way possible. Show me a robot that can approach an unbroke horse and while reading and reacting to all of the subtle cues of that horse in the correct way, get that horse caught, saddled and riding around. Show me a robot that can then progress that horse, as an individual, through all of the things that it takes to make a finished horse. Show me a robot that can gain and return the love and respect of a good cowdog. Show me a robot that can love me unconditionally and save my soul from eternity in hell.

The times they are a changin’. But some things will never change. Every human being wants to know the answer to two questions: “What am I doing here on earth?” and “What happens/where will I go when I die?”

God created every single one of us with a desire to find the answers to those questions so that we’d go looking for the answer…..and find Him. That can’t be done by a machine.

Robots and technology might be able to do a lot of things, but not everything. They can’t doctor a sick yearling out in the pasture. They can’t train a horse. They dang sure can’t save your soul. Some things will never change.

Choosing to ride with Jesus is a matter of the heart. No machine will ever be able to do it for us. Thank God for that, we’d sure miss out on a lot.

I’m headed to the fridge…..wish me luck.

“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”

Jeremiah 29:13

Jake Hershey 1/13/13

Quinton Schmelzenbach “Missionary Cowboy”

This is the truth! The message that Paul preached in Macedonia is still true today, and still needs to be spread!

Brian Becker

Well I don’t have a fridge Jake – but ill be keepin my 1911 .45 trained on my cool box — lol – and I know where i’ll be goin when I die — jus be sad to leave my Horse and dog — but as to what I was put on this earth for ? that question still escapes me — obliged